The present invention relates to an improved milk container and dispenser of the type wherein the milk is contained in a flexible bag supported within and protected by an outer rigid container.
The prior art contemplates essentially two different modes of transporting and dispensing multiple-gallon quantities of milk. In the conventional handling of bulk quantities of milk, a flexible plastic bag is disposed within a corrugated fiberboard or cardboard container or box and filled with milk. After filling, the flaps of the container are closed and sealed to enable shipping of the carton to its intended destination. The bag normally has a sealed dispensing tube which is drawn out of one end of the box through a suitable opening that is torn or cut in the end of the container.
The cardboard container mentioned above is normally rectangular in shape and has predetermined or standard dimensions which enable the container to fit on its said one end into a conventional refrigerated dispensing cabinet. A typical dispensing cabinet will have internal dimensions to accept one container or a plurality of containers arranged in a side-by-side relationship. To dispense the milk, the container is supported on the end having the drain tube, and the tube is withdrawn from the container and passed through a pinch valve to permit convenient dispensing of the milk. A container of this nature is described in Roak et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,293.
The materials from which the aforesaid containers are constructed are considered to be disposable, and the entire container is discarded when the inner plastic bag has been depleted of milk. The one-time use of each carton obviously presents disposal and waste problems. Furthermore, the cost of the container must be added to the cost of the milk.
When transporting the milk-filled cardboard boxes above described, it has been customary to place one or more of them into a standard dairy case. This is a form of container having widespread use in the dairy industry. Such cases have an open top and are composed of rigid materials such as plastic, wood, wire or the like, so that they are reusable. The cases are generally used to transport a plurality of cartons or bottles of milk and other products from the dairy to the consumer. The cases are ultimately returned to the dairy for reuse, and the dairy has equipment, such as automated floor chain conveyors, to move or convey single or stacked cases from one location to another for cleaning the cases, refilling them with product and conveying the filled cases to a loading dock or truck.
Dairy transport cases have standard dimensions to insure interchangeability and uniform packing systems, and the dairy processing equipment is specifically designed to accommodate a case having a given transverse dimension or width. A case wider than standard would not fit in the processing equipment, and a narrower case would tend to jam the equipment and could not be processed successfully.
From the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a reusable shipping and dispensing case that could be accommodated in a standard dispensing cabinet, as well as having the capability of being processed through existing dairy equipment. One proposal has been to substitute the standard dairy transport case for the standard cardboard container and thereby eliminate the need for the disposable cardboard case. This proposal, however, suffers the disadvantage that the dairy transport case is too wide for the standard refrigerated dispensing cabinet. The standard cardboard container is approximately 10 to 11 inches wide, whereas the standard dairy case is typically about 14 inches wide.
An alternate proposal, which is the converse of that described immediately above, is to provide a reusable case having a width that could be accommodated in a standard dispensing cabinet, i.e., a rigid reusable box much like the disposable cardboard box. Examples of such containers and related matter are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,212,681; 3,297,206; 3,343,719; 3,371,824; and 3,435,990. Such proposal, however, suffers the disadvantage that the narrower width case could not be successfully processed through existing dairy conveying and cleaning equipment, and the modification of the equipment to accept both sizes is not practical or feasible.